Mission Control – writing a Harvard thesis

Harvard said it cleared my thesis and had sent it to ProQuest/UMI in late June. Turns out they didn’t. I encourage anyone who wants to use this service to follow-up with the ALM program office. They were none too swift about this. And, despite assurances that our final grades would be up June 3 (final for the program) they weren’t. When I called in late July about getting the transcript (they send at the end of the year), they assured me it was in process. Still haven’t seen my official final grade for my thesis or a transcript and it’s Oct. 1. Fair warning.

This blog is now officially “closed”. No further posts as the thesis is done and I have graduated. : )

Consider following on with the new blog, International Security – news and commentary on military, defense, and foreign policy topics.

I submitted my thesis to ProQuest today. It takes a bit of preparation. Not just a “point and click” process. Next step – it goes to the Harvard ALM office for approval and then into ProQuest. Given how picky ProQ is about the submission format, it won’t surprise me if there’s a glitch in the process.

Regardless, a big step! I chose the “traditional publishing” option — that means if all goes well and it gets uploaded into ProQ, I could actually get a royalty check in my hand for all my research efforts. That would be cool.

Graduation was wonderful! My family and I had a great time yesterday. The weather was beautiful. It was a gas walking around in the regalia getting lots of smiles and congratulations!

The diploma ceremony in the A.R.T. was exciting and fun. The champagne reception preceding it was quite nice.  Afterwards, Peter O’Malley and his crew (Sarah and Kerry) did a good job of getting everyone lined up by number to form the processional into the theater for the diploma ceremony.  Standing in the lobby waiting to go in as the ceremony officially began took a while but there was lively conversation and gossip tidbits to keep us occupied.  From the food and drink in the lobby and courtyard area, talking to fellow students about our thesis experiences in the program while standing in the procession line, to the class photo afterwards — it was just great! What’s not to like?

The diploma itself is big. It comes in a lovely bright red/crimson envelope. It’s not really possible to look at it until the whole thing is over (the seating is too tight to open it). Later, when I did get my first glance, I discovered it was accompanied by a certificate for academic achievement – Dean’s List (GPA of 3.8+). I had no idea they had the formal recognition. Bonus!

To cap off the day,  we had dinner at the Harvard Club of Boston – again, simply marvelous.

Now I have to get used to saying, “I’m a Harvard alum“.

Below is a shot of the stage with Dean Shinagel speaking.

I went to the Coop today to pick up my graduation regalia. It was very quiet. For the many times I’ve been in the textbook annex, I’ve never seen part of it blocked off for the regalia: aisles and aisles of cubbies with small plastic bags in alpha order.

A singular joy — getting your Harvard graduation regalia. Bought a couple of t-shirts after picking it up and got a big “congratulations” at the checkout counter.

: )

May 7 marked the end of the Blackwater contract work for the State Department. Triple Canopy, one of two other private security firms on the State Dept. “WPPS” contract, took over their work, garnering $1 billion in new task orders.

AFP reports that

Linked agreements such as that for Presidential Airways, part of Blackwater that operates helicopter escorts throughout the country for secure air travel, will expire soon.

Without Blackwater in the operation, I doubt there will be spectacular problems like the ones  Blackwater experienced.

Bill Sizemore reports today that soon after the September 2007 Nisoor Square shootings, Blackwater guards tried to smuggle arms out of Iraq before an investigation got underway. The contractor who was asked to smuggle them out, John Houston, a former Army Spec Ops soldier, has been charged with attempted smuggling. AP reports that a second man, Michael Henson was also charged. The report says that several AK-47s were seized.

I am pleased to see that the ALM program is creating this new concentration in international relations. When I began the program over four years ago, I started with the idea of focusing on foreign policy which led me to international security as my main interest. Yet, the concentration was a broad-based generic “government” program and it took several years to build a solid IS transcript.

Here’s the description on the ALM website:

international relations has a fresh appeal because of the many critical worldwide issues that now confront us. This burgeoning field studies relationships among the world’s governments, political economies, laws, and multinational corporations, as well as global issues such as poverty, genocide, and the environment. Certain to appeal to new master’s degree candidates, this unique offering at Harvard will also be of interest to those employed in various Washington offices, military personnel, and students taking government courses.

Associate Dean and Director of the ALM Program Schopf explained the new concentrations

are being structured as liberal arts fields and not as professional programs. As such, they will engage with history, theory, criticism, and current research topics within an interdisciplinary context.

This is a crucial distinction!  The liberal arts foundation is fine but if one is thinking of the degree as a career move, the applied element is important. You don’t get it in this degree. One small way to fill that void: special events and lunch talks at Belfer, the Carr Center, and Shorenstein at HKS. It’s not the same as doing policy memos or analysis but it’s a good way to learn more about current issues and meet people. This also requires an additional time commitment; most of the Belfer events are mid-day or during the afternoon.

So far, there is no separate “IR” concentration in the list so I looked at the “government” course listings (but I suppose they’ll pull from other pertinent concentrations).  I don’t see any new courses being offered along with this new concentration yet.  Wonder if they are going to beef the listings up a bit or just expect students to put things together based on current offerings?  If it’s the latter, uh oh. One particular problem some degree students may face if they don’t check the “fine print” is they will build a nice IR transcript but not have enough “Harvard instructors” (HI) to graduate (8 out of your 10 courses must be HI).  Ironically, the current IR course is taught by David Rezvani — he is not an HI now (he was when I took it). Several courses in the 2009-2010 catalog are IR-centric but they aren’t taught by HI instructors (e.g., International Organizations, The Future of War, Globalization and Terrorism).

Along with dropping certificate programs, adding new master’s degree concentrations is a good way to enhance the credibility of the division overall.  The division seems to be waking up from a somewhat sleepy role on campus. Kudos.  Harvard offers several paths to a degree in government: the Kennedy School, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ Ph.D. in government, and this ALM degree. These new concentrations are a smart move.

I got the final revisions from Dr. O this afternoon. Five very small changes. He doesn’t need to see them; he’s signed off, telling me it’s ok to send it to the bindery when I’m done!  Hallelujah.

I’m going to print two copies at the bindery. I’ll keep one and give the other to the ALM office and see if it passes muster. If so, I’ll have four more copies bound (TD,  2 family members, and an extra for me).

: )

Oh happy day.

I submitted my first round of revisions to my advisor April 9. Still waiting to get the thesis back for a second round of revisions (it was in great shape however, this next round should be only very minor issues). The official deadline to get the thesis to the bindery is April 15. That deadline is not real. I’ve contacted Dr. O twice. As of yesterday, April 20, he didn’t have it done yet. So there will be another round (most likely) and we’ll repeat this exasperating process.

This creates some frustration. The April 15 deadline is clearly unreal. It takes two weeks (normally) to get it printed/bound which the ALM office knows full well. You can pay the rush fee for two day turnaround but that’s unfair when the student wasn’t the holdup. The next deadline is May 15 — when we are supposed to have the bound copy to the ALM office. If they don’t have it, you don’t get your diploma June 4. You can walk but there’s only an empty envelope waiting for you onstage. Nice.

This was after I got the initial submission to him two weeks early, which he was glad about but he didn’t get to it to take advantage of my early effort.

So here we are. Just as others in years past have learned, this final formatting phase is kind of pain. (Previous grads have said they had to stay on top of this to move it along).  Dr. O is deluged with work but that isn’t the fault of any one student. The ALM office doesn’t have the staff to get the theses reviewed to fit their own timetable. They either need to adjust the schedule or hire more staff (even if only seasonally).

Fair warning to those ALMs about to start their thesis process. This is what awaits you at the other end.

Sigh.